New Study Reports Toll on Factory-Farmed Fish

A new study citing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that between 37 and 120 billion (midpoint around 80 billion) farmed fish were killed globally for food in 2010. An additional .45 to 1.0 trillion wild fish were caught for fish oil and to feed farmed fish. These shocking numbers add to the estimated .97 - 2.7 trillion fish that were caught in the wild each year between 1999 and 2007.

"The increasing global number of farmed fish slaughtered for food each year may already exceed the number of farmed mammals and birds reported by the FAO (63 billion in 2010)," the study reports. Just like cows, chickens, pigs, and other farmed animals, fish feel pain and can suffer.